UNITED STATES AUTHOR · ASSASSINATION · BIOGRAPHY
James L. Swanson
James L .Swanson (born 12 February 1959) is an American historian and author famous for his New York Times best-seller Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, focusing on the biography of John Wilkes Booth and his plot to kill Lincoln and other cabinet members.
Most acclaimed
Lincoln's assassins
Presents more than three hundred portraits, artifacts, photographs, prints, letters, and other visual records to document the fates of the eight persons accused of conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln.
Chasing Lincoln's killer
Based on rare archival material, obscure trial manuscripts, and interviews with relatives of the conspirators and the manhunters, CHASING LINCOLN'S KILLER is a fast-paced thriller about the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth: a wild twelve-day chase through the streets of Washington, D.C., across the swamps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia. "This story is true. All the characters are real and were alive during the great manhunt of April 1865. Their words are authentic and come from original sources: letters, manuscripts, trial transcripts, newspapers, government reports, pamphlets, books and other documents. What happened in Washington, D.C., that spring, and in the swamps and rivers, forests and fields of Maryland and Virginia during the next twelve days, is far too incredible to have been made up." So begins this fast-paced thriller that tells the story of the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth and gives a day-by-day account of the wild chase to find this killer and his accomplices. Based on James Swanson's bestselling adult book MANHUNT: THE 12-DAY CHASE FOR LINCOLN'S KILLER, this young people's version is an accessible look at the assassination of a president, and shows readers Abraham Lincoln the man, the father, the husband, the friend, and how his death impacted those closest to him.
Manhunt
Al Qaeda expert and CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen paints a multi-dimensional picture of the hunt for bin Laden over the past decade, as well as the recent campaign that gradually tightened the noose around him. Other key elements of the book include: A careful account of Obama's decision-making process in the final weeks and days as the raid was planned, as well as what NSC cabinet members were advising him; the fascinating story of a group of mostly women analysts at the CIA in the HVT (high value target) section, who never gave up assembling the tiniest clues about OBL's whereabouts; the untold and action-packed history of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and the SEALs, which accounts for the confidence Obama had in tasking them with the mission; and, an analysis of what the death of OBL means for al Qaeda, for the wider jihadist movement that looked to him for inspiration and strategic guidance, and for Obama's legacy. Just as Hugh Trevor-Roper's "The Last Days of Hitler" was the definitive account of the death of the Nazi dictator, so too is "Manhunt" the authoritative, immersive account of the operation that killed the man who organized the largest mass murder in American history.